Thinking backwards to move forward

Chess grandmasters, being able to look ten or even more moves ahead, was a myth more often than not, Maurice Ashley emphasizes in his inspiring TED talk. Rather than looking ahead, grandmasters ‘d think of simple end-game situations. In their minds, kind of working backwards, they’d try to simplify a chess game in its early phase to a promising end-game setting. Such settings involve fewer pieces and can be better grasped in the whole.